Tropical depression "Gener" moves close to Philippines

Tropical depression "Gener" continued to move over the South China Sea area west to the Philippine island of Luzon Saturday morning, a local weather forecast institute said. In its 10:45 a.m. (0245 GMT) advisory, the Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) said "Gener" was 660 kilometers west-southwest of Iba, capital of Zambales province which is 150 kilometers north of Manila. "Gener" packed maximum sustained winds of 55 kilometers per hour (kph) near the center and was moving west-northwest at 17 kph, said PAGASA.

By Sunday morning, "Gener" will be 890 km west-northwest of Iba, Zambales or 920 km west-southwest of Laoag City in northern Luzon, said PAGASA. "Gener" would enhance the southwest monsoon and bring rains over the western section of Southern Luzon and Western Visayas in central Philippines, said PAGASA.

The Philippines is still recovering from the damage done by typhoon "Fengshen", locally called "Frank", which rampaged through Philippines last month, killing hundreds of people and causing the capsizing of a passenger ship with more than 800 onboard.

_{Bron: Xinhua}